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College basketball rankings: AP Top 25 Poll predictions – Virginia makes case to be No. 1

By Connor Muldowney

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - MARCH 09: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers calls a play in the first half during a game against the Louisville Cardinals at John Paul Jones Arena on March 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - MARCH 09: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers calls a play in the first half during a game against the Louisville Cardinals at John Paul Jones Arena on March 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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BLOOMINGTON, IN – FEBRUARY 26: Brad Davison #34 of the Wisconsin Badgers dribbles the ball against Rob Phinisee #10 of the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on February 26, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN – FEBRUARY 26: Brad Davison #34 of the Wisconsin Badgers dribbles the ball against Rob Phinisee #10 of the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on February 26, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Trust me, I still can’t believe I’m sharpie-ing Wofford in as the No. 20 team in the country heading into the final week before the NCAA Tournament, but here we are. The Terriers have been on a tear this season, winning the regular season Southern Conference title with an 18-0 record. On top of that, they’ve beaten some quality teams in their conference — under SoCon standards — such as Furman and UNC Greensboro and just advanced to the title game in its tourney.

Consistency has not been on Virginia Tech’s side over the last few weeks but the Hokies still finish the regular season ranked after ending with an 84-70 win over a struggling Miami team. That doesn’t quite make up for a road loss to Florida State earlier in the week, but the Hokies still have some impressive wins on their resume, including a win over Duke a week ago.

A year ago, Wisconsin wasn’t even on the NCAA Tournament’s radar. The Badgers finished the season with a losing record and just started coming into their own at the end of the year. This year, though, Greg Gard has done a fantastic job with his team, turning it into a Big Ten contender and NCAA Tournament lock. Wisconsin finished the regular season with a 20-point win over Iowa and then a road victory against Ohio State.

Kansas just doesn’t look like the same team it was at the beginning of the season with Udoka Azubuike and Lagerald Vick, but the Jayhawks are still going to be dangerous in March. Bill Self was finally held without a Big 12 regular season title as Kansas State and Texas Tech shared the crown, but I wouldn’t count this team out any time soon. The Jayhawks lost at Oklahoma, but then followed it up with a resume-building win over Baylor.

The pride of the MAC continues to roll as the Buffalo Bulls picked up two more wins to close out the regular season with an impressive 28-3 mark. They own one of the best records in all of college basketball, but the Bulls need to prove they can hang with some of the nation’s premier teams in the NCAA Tournament. They could either surprise some people in a couple of weeks or suffer a rude awakening.